Don't know if this is the right place... I googled this and there are so many replys that it is confusing. What is your way to clean and re-season cast iron? My skillet is a bit sticky... don't know whether to use steel wool, plastic scraper or what to loosen burnt on food. I have heard of people throwing the items in a fire to season them! That sounds a little over the top!
To clean it coat it really good with cooking oil, enough to make it slimy sort of. Stick it in a 350 degree oven till good and warm. Scrub it down really well while still warm with steel wool, be sure NOT to use a Brillo pad with soap. Rinse it with really hot water. Coat with veggie oil again and stick it back in the oven till good and hot, take it out, set it on a burner and let cool completely. Wipe down with a paper towel and it is ready to go.
Gaylynn.. actually sticking cast iron in the fire isn't as drastic as it sounds, especially if it has a lot of build up on it. The fire will bring it back like new, although it will need to be re seasoned. Then Tonis way of seasoning is great. btw.. I always wash with soap and water, I just don't leave my pans in the soapy water. Then dry it immediately.
My mom always put hers in a fire and as most know at my age .Wood cook stoves cause lots of build up.Then she took rendered pork fat (lard)on it after washing it in lye soap and drying it on the eye .Let it cool.I am from the old school country for sure.She would put it in the oven and let it dry.Take it out and let it cool after pouring the melted lard off.Then she put cold lard all over inside again.Cover and store.The ash from the fire helped clean it as she used ashes to make lye soup but I can't remember how she did it now but ash is lye .I think I remember that right..
Glenda.. I love mt cast iron pots, and i have some of my Mommas and Grandmothers pieces as well. I have only re seasoned a couple times and did put them in the fire first, but after that, seems like i put the oven on 200 degrees and "baked" the pieces for a couple hours, poured the extra oil out, and wiped with paper towels, and then they were good to go. I am old too, and my mind fails me more than it works
This is how we cleaned the two best cast iron skillets we had when I was a kid. After we used them, we put some water in and let them boil on the stovetop. Usually added a little soap, not too much. Then scrubbed them out if needed and dried them really well either in the hot oven or on the stovetop. I don't recall seasoning them in any special way afterwards, but added the fat whenever we cooked in them. This way reminds me of Toni's method except that we didn't add extra oil at the end. My brother is still using one of these skillets to this day.
I'm guessing the boiling water loosens the burned on food. I don't know how I got this skillet in such a mess. But I have never been able to just wipe it out after using. I always fry bacon and then make gravy and I will have to use a plastic scrapper to clean it. And the the next time I fry bacon, it sticks! :-x Thanks for all your suggestions!
Gaylyn... I use scratcher pads on mine too. Try heating the skillet up real good and hot, then spray Pam on the surface of the skillet before you add the bacon. That might help the bacon to not stick. Hope that helps some
Funny how some topics just really jog the old memories. Granddad used to curse whenever Grandma got a hold of his skillets and used soap on them. Said it wrecked the seasoning and it would take him forever to get them so they wouldn't stick. He swore you only had to wipe them out while they were warm. Toni he would have approved of your way of treating cast iron. We have two old cast iron skillets we still use. My husband prefers to use olive oil, because you can heat them up without the oil burning. Bacon has a lot more things in it to stick than lard or PAM would for an unseasoned or under-seasoned skillet.
